Arts Be Crafty

Monday, February 5, 2018

It's just a cold, blustery day in the north east and there's no way I wanted to brave the frigid temps, so it was either work on my next book or pull out the paint.

Guess which one won? :)

This canvas had another painting on it that just wasn't working out. So I mixed some green, blue and yellow and blocked out the old stuff.

Then did the center of the flower in shades of brown, yellow and black. The petals were done in two shades of yellow and green. A little of the brown mixture was streaked up through the petals for texture. The dragonfly (first time I ever painted one!) was done in light and medium purple, blue, black, and white.

Sunday, January 21, 2018

A while a go I did this table with stain. It was a technique I saw in several sites on the internet and it was surprisingly easy to do.
My fail? I left the tables out year round and in Jersey, winter can do nasty things to art work. Did I not seal them good enough? Was it an especially harsh winter? Probably yes to all of the above. :(

So, I've been wanting to update it and didn't think the stain would work again so I dragged out my acrylic paint and a can of clear sealer and went to work.

First I sanded the top to have a smooth canvas. Then painted the top black so I'd have a good base and maybe the paint would help seal the wood a bit so I could work on it.

Next I filled in the peacock body in with a couple of shades of blue to give it some texture.The green feather-like area was put in with strokes of green, yellow, and purple. After the wavy lines were in place and still wet, I dipped a paper towel in water and dragged it from center to the outer edges to get a blurry streaked effect.

Next the eyes of the peacock feathers were painted with a blend of orange/yellow, a heart shaped blue, and purple dot. After that dried, long wavy lines were shadowed in to create that feathery look.

On the blue body, the eye was painted in yellow for the iris and outlined with white. The beak is an off white. The hair like spikes on top of the head were outlined in black and highlighted with a blend of yellow/orange (heavy on the yellow) Dots were placed on top of the spikes in white, purple and yellow.

For the body lines of purple were placed just to give it a little feathery effect (without actually painting feathers.)

Three coats of sealer were sprayed over the top and sides to (hopefully) give it some protection from the elements.

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Here in the North East we're in below 0 temps and hiding in the house. Fire in the wood stove, wine is poured and it's a great time to CREATE!

We're looking to sell our house and move so my art studio is packed up in boxes. Wahhhaaaa!

So my awesome family got me a few things for Christmas. Brushes, canvases, and an easel. All I had to get was some paint. Forgive the quick pics. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these yet, might just go in the closet with the rest of the artworks. :)

First lay out a sheet of paper and then scrunch more newspaper over it. When you have enough for a body wrap the bottom newspaper around the scrunched up stuff and use masking tape to secure. Squish and shape into the body of a bee.(From the first bee I discovered it's better to wrap the outside of the newspaper body in something with a solid color or the print shows through) Put a layer of paper towel over it to hide the print. Fold the table cloth in half and roll your newspaper bee body up in it. Secure with clear packing tape. For the tail, use the extra table cloth at the end of the body and twist it tight, trim to a point, then wrap in packing tape. cut 2 small strips of duct tape to make the stripe.

To make the black strips on the bee body I used black duct tape.Construct your head the same way but cut a square of the black table cloth to fit over your bee head. Before taping figure out where the antenna will stick out. Cut small slits. Wrap the head and secure it with tape at the back. Flip over and insert antenna's. A dab of hot glue will hold them in place.
I used Turbo Tacky Glue to glue the eyes in place. A quick slash of yellow paint for a cute little mouth.
I originally tried gluing the head to the body but it wouldn't stick. I don't know why, maybe not enough air to dry the glue? So I used packing tape. :)

The honeycomb is just poster board and little bees as explained in the previous post. Of course I had to add some cute saying found on that Internet. SAVE THE HONEY BEES! BE HAPPY! BEE KIND!

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Confession; I drive a bright yellow car. :)
So, when my job invited each department to participate in a community Trunk or Treat I figured I'd go with the theme of my car.
Bee Happy!
So, here's the start of what's going to be my Trunk or Treat car.
First some pom poms and Turbo Tacky Glue (Love this stuff!) I glued them together and set them aside to let them dry.

Next I cut up an egg carton and painted them yellow with black stripes to look like bees. (Found this one on Pinterest. Love that site!)
After they dried, I took two pipe cleaners and twisted them together to make legs. Then came the hot glue gun. My gun is really old and I burnt the heck out of my hand. I think it's time to get a new glue gun! I glued on the legs and eyes. Using an exacto knife I made holes in the head part and threaded a half a pipe cleaner through to make antennas.

So, this is where I am so far with my Trunk or Treat car. Next giant bees and a poster of a honey comb. The giant bees should be should be ready to go by tomorrow. Right now they're lying in pieces on my kitchen table. Although my wing plan for them didn't work, I'll probably make some from poster board. It will be fine as long as it doesn't rain....

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Hello Fall! Beautiful season of orange and yellow! My two favorite colors!
Now what can we make for Fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving?

I was in Lowes and saw this great topiary of 3 pumpkins stacked up in a plastic vase. It had some fall foliage and I thought that would look great by my front door. Then I looked at the PRICE!
Oh! Big Ouchie!Sorry, no way was I going to pay that much for something I could do cheaper. Also, in making it myself, I could put my own signature on it.

The pumpkins aren't available in any of the dollar stores around here but Michael's has them for 50% off. Still kind of too much. If I'm going to make these, I want a good deal. If the prices aren't more reasonable by next week, I'm going to have to figure out another pumpkin idea.

Moving onto Halloween...MY FAVORITE!

I have two plans for outside;
Underground trap;
This will entail a pallet, some lights, and some plastic bones.

Spiderweb of Death:
Make giant spider web either from trashbags or see what the dollar store has in stock.
Fake spider web (from the dollar store)
Cheese cloth
Newspaper
Tape
October is this weekend...it's time to get your goul on! Check back soon for an update!

Saturday, August 6, 2016

We were having a St. Patrick's Day party in August at work and you know what? It's almost impossible to find St. Patrick Day decorations in the middle of summer. So I decided we needed something creative.

I bought a piece of wood at Lowes, it was thin, RevolutionPly 5mm. My husband cut it in half and we glued the two pieces together to make it stronger. Then he screwed 1" x 2" boards around the outside edge for extra reinforcement.

For the stand he cut two triangles out of plywood (1/2 in thick) and cut slots in them so the board would slip in to stand up.

Once we had the board all put together, it was time to lay out the design. I wanted the the Leprechaun faces cut out so people could get behind them and take photos. So I sketched the picture with a piece of chalk and my husband cut the faces out.

Now it was time to paint.

Confession; Lowes was selling the Valspar paint samples for a buck...OMG! I had a big background to paint so this was a great economical find. It was hard to restrain myself to just a few. I think artist everywhere were dancing.

Then it was just paint...and touch up...and touch up

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut vinyl for the Happy St. Patrick's Day" and e shamrocks and put them on the final picture.

To add a little dimension I used Washi Tape from Michaels for the front of the Leprechaun's vest on the left and some gold ribbon for the front of the vest for the Leprechaun on the right. I glued them on with Tacky Glue and taped the ribbon until the glue dried.

Who is Arts Be Crafty?

Mom, Writer, & Artist with two daughters who loves a crafty home. Happiest with a can of spray paint in hand and a plan to upcycle a piece of furniture.

When I was a child and they asked what I wanted to be, I said, "An artist." They told me that wasn't a career and to pick something else. I did. Several something elses. None of them were me. With no art in my life, I was lost. After years of wandering, I've come back to art. And life is beautiful.